The Jackson City Council will vote on several street improvements that may total about $1.2 million at Tuesday morning's council meeting.

The city took bids on four contracts to help improve traffic congestion in town. Scott Chandler, city of Jackson engineer, said that he hopes the projects will be completed in the next two to three months if approved.

The Engineering Department is recommending that the first contract be awarded to Delta Contracting Co. for $511,549. Part of that contract would be for paving and adding a lane to part of Country Club Lane until it begins to curve toward Vann Drive. The plan is to add a lane for when cars turn left while on Country Club.

Also, a part of the first contract is to pave Oil Well Road from Wyndhurst Drive, around Old Humboldt Road, to the bypass. The intersection with the bypass also would be widened to add a second left turn lane going both ways on Oil Well at the intersection of the bypass. Chandler said this would ease the bottle-necking of the current left turn lanes.

The second contract is for Lambuth Boulevard and also is recommended to go to low bidder Delta Contracting for $506,567. This project will go in hand with the previously approved sidewalk improvement project for the area around the University of Memphis at Lambuth campus. The plans call for new sidewalks, an added bike lane and a repaved road.

Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist said that the school will stencil in "UM"s and tiger paw prints on the road.

The third contract also is recommended to go to Delta Contracting for $164,506. The plans call for an added lane on Christmasville Road near Interstate 40.

The added lane will be a left turn lane toward the interstate out of the Pilot truck stop. Chandler said that the added lane will help prevent problems such as trucks sitting in the middle of traffic at the turn signal and having to reverse after missing the light.

The fourth contract is recommended to go to Ford Construction Co. for $100,797. The intersection of Union Avenue and West College Street will be improved for a more vendor- and walker-friendly area.

Currently, cars use the road between two buildings, under which the West Tennessee Farmers Market houses vendors, as a drive-through route. The plans are to curb off West College Street and add sidewalks to help with foot traffic.

Storm damage

The council also will vote on a budget amendment to decide whether to spend $960,000 on repairs to several roads, including University Parkway and Ashport Road, that were damaged in the flash floods about two weeks ago.

"Any time you have 5 inches of rain in 45 minutes, which is basically what it was, there's not a storm water system that's large enough to take that capacity anywhere in the nation," Gist said. "People just don't plan for that type of rain because it just never happens. But it did this time, and it did some major damages."

Jackson City Recorder Al Laffoon said that $500,000 of the amendment is for the culvert that runs behind Englewood Baptist Church under Carriage House Drive to Gold's Gym. Laffoon said that the culvert has weakened to the point that Jackson Energy Authority has said it will collapse soon.

"So what we're looking at doing here is to let the council know that we're going to need to move some money out of our investment account because these are unplanned and they are major," Laffoon said.

Laffoon said that part of the land with the culvert is owned by JEA and that JEA possibly could be asked to pay for a portion of it.

Chandler said that part of the budget amendment will be used to recoup some of the money the Engineering Department had to pay for the emergency fixes during the flash floods.

Gist said that the city received 1,100 requests from residents after the rain, and he said the city is doing what it can to help those who have been affected.

"We need to see if we can help them," Gist said. "Some of them we can and some of them we can't because of environmental laws."

Chandler said he and workers from the Engineering Department currently are looking at other places they think could be trouble spots if and when Jackson receives the kind of storms it has the past few weeks. Their goal is to be preventative and not reactive when it comes to roads that are main connectors in the city.

Along with the road construction, the council will vote on closing two unnamed alleys. One lies between Holly and Clayton streets, just south of Carroll Street. The other runs south off of Arlington Avenue between Campbell and Pleasant streets.

Gist said that the city is closing the alleys because they were really never used.

"The alley gets cut in half and backside property owners get five more feet for no charge," Gist joked.

A contract is recommended to go to Delta Contracting for an added lane on Christmasville Road near Interstate 40.(Photo: KENNETH CUMMINGS/The Jackson Sun)

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The city may approve a contract to repave part of Oil Well Road and add a second left turn lane at its intersection with the U.S. 45 Bypass.(Photo: KENNETH CUMMINGS/The Jackson Sun)

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The city is planning improvements to Lambuth Boulevard. Plans call for new sidewalks, an added bike lane and a repaved road. Jackson Mayor Jerry Gist said that the school will stencil in ‘UM’s and tiger paw prints on the road near the University of Memphis at Lambuth campus.
(Photo:
KENNETH CUMMINGS/The Jackson Sun
)